Council "Streamlines" Public out of the Development Process

Welcome to the new transparent Montgomery County! Here is the latest from your elected officials: they plan to "streamline" the development and permitting process to make it more "user friendly."

And what's the best way to do that? Hold forums in the middle of the day so working men and women can't attend!

Here is the text, below. Here is the link where you can see the text illustrated with a lovely photo provided by -- wait for it -- developer JBG. Just so it isn't clear already who is running the show here in Montgomery County.

The Streamlining Development initiative is a collaborative multi-agency effort to analyze the entitlement process from project conception to occupancy and identify where within government and quasi-government authorities there are bottlenecks, duplication of reviews, inconsistent positions and process inefficiencies. The objective is to streamline the approval process so that it is more user-friendly, understandable, reliable, consistent and efficient without compromising public participation, quality of development, environmental protection or public safety.

The information acquired during the forums will be used by work groups to investigate expressed problems and recommend solutions.

Representatives from the following agencies will be present to listen to your comments regarding the development process. Written comments can be posted through March 31, 2012 on the Streamlining Development website at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/permittingservices/
DPS/streamlinedevelopment/StreamliningDevelopment.aspx

Please register for one of the two public forums by clicking on the links
below.
Board of Appeals
County Council
Department of Permitting
Services
Department of Economic Development
Department of Environmental
Protection
Department of Fire and Rescue Services
Department of Housing
and Community Affairs
Department of Transportation
Maryland National
Capital Park and
Planning Commission
Office of the County
Attorney
Office of Zoning and Administrative Hearings
State Highway
Administration
Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

Sign language interpreter services or oral language interpreter services can be
provided upon request with at least 5 days advance notice. Alternative formats
of this document are availableupon request as far in advance as possible, but
not less than 5 days prior to the event. If youneed other services or accommodations to participate in this activity, please call Alexia Roundtreeat (240) 777-6280, Voice or (240) 777-6256, TTY. Or you may send a request via email to Alexia.
Roundtree@montgomerycountymd.gov

Streamlining the Development Process
Public Forum
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
2:30pm – 4:30pm
Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe St.
Lobby Auditorium
Rockville, MD 20850

Streamlining the Development Process
Public Forum
Friday, March 9, 2012
1:30pm – 3:30pm
Executive Office Building, 101 Monroe St.
Lobby Auditorium
Rockville, MD 20850